The Illusive Man

The Illusive Man is the mysterious leader and benefactor for the group known as Cerberus. He brings Commander Shepard back from a braindead state in Mass Effect 2 and gives him unlimited funding for his missions. He is frequently seen smoking a cigarette. Little else was initially known about his character, but his motives are expanded upon during the events of Mass Effect 3 and other Mass Effect media such as novels.

The Illusive Man believes humanity should be one of the most dominant forces in the galaxy and is willing to do anything to promote and strengthen the human race by any means necessary.

The evidence of his aspirations for humans to become more than they are is evident in his seemingly cybernetic upgrades - the Illusive Man's eyes seem to have been genetically modified, although this is never explained.

The Illusive Man works often in the shadows, pulling the strings of Cerberus from a mysterious hidden space station orbiting a star. His personality changes depending on what he wants, and he toes the line between good and evil at multiple points during the narrative.

He is often seen dressed in an impeccable futuristic suit and often smokes a cigarette. His demeanour is that of a man with everything, one is who is used to getting his way. When double crossed, the Illusive Man's retribution is swift, and he uses his vast amount of Cerberus operatives to carry out his orders.

He is cold, calculating and believes strongly in his ideals. He is seen as an almost polar opposite to Commander Shepard, and the two often come to blows about important decisions, particularly during the events of Mass Effect 3.

Although little is revealed about the Illusive Man's history through the trilogy of videogames, the expansive universe of Mass Effect has filled in some of the gaps.

In the novel Mass Effect: Evolution, the Illusive Man is revealed to have formely been named Jack Harper. He was a mercenary, part of a special task force operating against the turian armies during the First Contact War.

The novel focuses on the 'Evolution' of Jack Harper into the Illusive Man, and the events within the book prompt him to believe that dark times are coming for humanity, and they must stand strong to protect themselves.

After the Collectors destroy the original Normandy at the game's beginning, the Illusive Man moves quickly and recovers the body of Commander Shepard by using his extensive Cerberus network and connections.

His aim is to use the almost completely destroyed body of Commander Shepard in a process known as the Lazarus Project, which is to be run by [http://uk.ign.com/wikis/mass-effect-3/Miranda_Lawson Miranda Lawson]. The Lazarus Project is designed to bring Commander Shepard back to life, as the Illusive Man believes Shepard to be of extreme importance in fighting the coming war with the Reapers.

The Lazarus Project is a complete success. The Illusive Man pours untold amounts of money into the project, and it is revaled in Mass Effect 3 that he refused Miranda Lawson's desire to implant a control chip in Commander Shepard, as the Illusive Man feared it would tamper with Shepard's free will and affect his/her influence on the galaxy.

Commander Shepard awakens from the Lazarus project after being believed to be clinically dead for two whole years. The Illusive Man begins his plan of manipulating Shepard by enlisting the use of Shepard's former crewmates, and even goes so far as to build an entirely new model of the Normandy, the SR-2.

When Shepard first awakes, the Illusive Man meets with Shepard via videolink and explains that things in the galaxy are still extremely bad. The Citadel Council is still denying the existence of the Reapers, and he also reveals that entire colonies of humans have begun to disappear in the area around the Terminus Systems.

The Illusive Man explains that he believes this to be the work of the Reapers, and he informs Commander Shepard that only Cerberus can give he or she the necessary resources they need to fight against the mysterious threat.

Somewhat reluctantly Commander Shepard eventually agrees to work with Cerberus, and assumes command of the Normandy SR-2 along with Cerberus operatives Jacob Taylor and Miranda Lawson. Cerberus has also employed the use of Jeff 'Joker' Moreau and Dr. Chakwas, designed to make Shepard feel comfortable when he/she sees his/her old crewmates. Spoiler - Click to see/hide

After securing the services of Commander Shepard, the Illusive Man plays the role of support - offering guidance and advice to the Commander as he/she explores the galaxy.

In reality the Illusive Man uses Shepard's wide ability to influence people to advance his own goals, and his first move is to send Shepard to Freedom's Progress, the last area to suffer from the mysterious human abductions.

It seems at this point the Illusive Man's aim is merely to learn what exactly is happening to humans and - thanks to the efforts of Commander Shepard and his/her team - he learns that the Collectors, an enigmatic race that are a vast unknown, are behind the mass disappearances of human colonies.

It is at this point that the Illusive Man tells Commander Shepard that he has little knowledge of the Collectors, and hands Shepard a dossier filled with potential squadmates who can help him/her with the pursuit and research of the Collectors.

As Shepard goes about doing this, the Illusive Man gradually becomes aware that the Collectors are seemingly targeting Shepard's former crewmates, and he uses his connections to leak the locations of one of Shepard's former crewmates who is stationed on Horizon, another human colony.

Depending on decisions made in the first game the crew member in question will either be Kaiden Alenko, or Ashley Williams.

The Illusive Man sends Shepard to Horizon where he/she is able to stop the abduction of the entire human colony by the Collectors. This presence of the mysterious alien race on Horizon confirms the Illusive Man's suspicions that the Collectors are targeting Commander Shepard specifically, and he hatches a plot to find out why. Spoiler - Click to see/hide

Armed with the newfound knowledge that the Collectors are after Shepard, the Illusive Man sends the Commander to the Collector Ship, which has apparently been disabled by a Turian patrol.

The ship is the same one that attacked the Commander during the game's opening sequence, and the Illusive Man believes the ship contains crucial information inside about the seemingly impassable Omega 4 mass relay, beyond which the race of Collectors are believed to reside.

During the mission the Illusive Man learns via Shepard that the Collectors are in fact the Protheans, a race of creatures that existed before humanity. The Reapers have extensively modified the Prothean's genetic markup via unknown techniques and indoctrination to make the alien race their slaves, and the Reapers are pulling the strings of the entire Collector race through the Reaper known as Harbinger.

While at the ship Shepard also discovers that to access the Omega 4 relay one requires a Reaper IFF (Identify.Friend/Foe Tag) Believing this to be the next logical step in his fight against the Reapers, the Illusive Man then sends Shepard to a seemingly derelict Reaper to acquire the necessary IFF.

Shepard's mission aboard the dormant Reaper isn't easy - the Reaper is in fact just slumbering, and activates around halfway through the mission. Shepard manages to escape the Reaper and acquires the IFF with the help of the geth Legion.

With the Reaper IFF now available, the Illusive Man is prepared to move against the Collectors and is prepared to use the Collectors to further humanity's knowledge.

With the urging of the Illusive Man, Shepard begins preparations to travel through the Omega 4 relay and launch an assault on whatever lies ahead.

Using Cerberus' resources, equipment and crew members Shepard is able to navigate the relay and they soon discover that the Omega 4 relay leads to a huge structure known as the Collector Base.

Here Shepard finds out more about the Reapers, which was the Illusive Man's intention all along. Shepard's main discovery in the Collector Base is how Reapers are made - they are a bio-construct formed from the living organic matter of a species, and it is the discovery of the Human-Reaper that leads to this understanding.

After Shepard defeats the incomplete Reaper, the Illusive Man gives Shepard an ultimatum. He wants to use the technology of the Collector Base to further humanity's own technology, and he argues aggressively that Shepard should leave the base intact for further research.

At this point, two endings are possible, the first of which sees the Collector Base destroyed, and the second of which sees the Collectors wiped out by a radiation leak and the base left behind.

Spoiler - Click to see/hide

In Mass Effect 3 he takes a piece of the blueprints to the weapon known as the Crucible which turns out to be the catalyst for the weapon. He does what he can to prevent Shepard from distroying the reapers even going as far as to target the council. You later learn that his overall intention was to take control of the Reapers but was indoctrned by them in the process.

The Illusive man contacts Shepard on [[Mars] ]claiming that the Crucible will allow him to control the Reapers and make humanity the dominant race in the galaxy. He deploys Cerberus's military forces to impede Shepard's progress of uniting the various races and sends his best agent Kai Leng on the most important assignments. He shows signs of indoctrination such as subtly doubting if controlling the Reapers was really his idea.Spoiler - Click to see/hide